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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/28290855">A First Date of Sorts</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/Modest_K/pseuds/Modest_K'>Modest_K</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Christmas, F/M, First Date, Fluff, Winter, fluffy fluff, its just fluff, some swearing I guess</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-12-24</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-12-24</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-11 00:02:18</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Not Rated</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>1,415</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/28290855</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/Modest_K/pseuds/Modest_K</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Rose and Scorpius go on a nice, wintery date.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Scorpius Malfoy/Rose Weasley</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>2</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>27</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Collections:</b></td><td>Harry Potter Fanfiction Club Presents: Christmas 2020</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>A First Date of Sorts</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>“I can’t believe you don’t want to just leave.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I believe rather strongly in making the best of one’s situation.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“No, you believe strongly in digging your heels in after you’ve made a complete fuck-twat out of yourself.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“That’s… the same thing.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Rose huffed. She was hardly known for her patience on a good day— on a brisk, windy one that kept sending her hair into her face and made her fingers go numb? </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Patience could fuck right off. It could slither off into the sewer to drink the piss water, along with understanding, reason, dignity, and every other trait Rose had sacrificed when she accepted a date with Scorpius Malfoy. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“It’s really not,” she argued, rolling her eyes, rubbing her knuckles in a futile attempt at regaining some feeling. It worked to some extent— she could feel the wind’s </span>
  <em>
    <span>sting </span>
  </em>
  <span>as it sliced her hands to shreds. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Rose,” Scorpius sighed, leaning against the iron bars of the fence. He was always so frustratingly </span>
  <em>
    <span>casual. </span>
  </em>
  <span>It was something Rose had always loved— </span>
  <em>
    <span>hated, Rose, hated</span>
  </em>
  <span>— about him. “If I didn’t </span>
  <em>
    <span>commit</span>
  </em>
  <span> to my fuck-twattery, do you know what would that make me?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Rose crossed her arms. “Do tell.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“It’d make me a fuck-twat,” Scorpius deadpanned. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Are you trying to argue that you aren’t one?” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Scorpius smiled, which she hadn’t expected. She hated his smile as much as she hated his casualty. “I’m </span>
  <em>
    <span>trying </span>
  </em>
  <span>to argue that we just go inside to eat before my heating charm wears off of our food.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Rose grimaced. “Scorpius, you realize how completely impossible it should have been for you to convince me to join you for a picnic in the park in the middle of December? This is </span>
  <em>
    <span>worse.</span>
  </em>
  <span>”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“It’s </span>
  <em>
    <span>like </span>
  </em>
  <span>a park,” Scorpius contradicted. He gestured to his left, behind the fence. “Look, it’s got grass somewhere under that snow, trees, some benches. It’s got flowers, too!”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Scor, we’re at a cemetery.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He waved a hand. “The specifics are hazy.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Bullshit,” Rose rolled her eyes. “You just didn’t know where you were going.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“It’s not </span>
  <em>
    <span>my </span>
  </em>
  <span>fault,” Scorpius complained. “I was told it’d be a </span>
  <em>
    <span>park.</span>
  </em>
  <span>”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“By who?” she demanded.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“</span>
  <em>
    <span>Your </span>
  </em>
  <span>idiot cousin,” Scorpius growled. He lightly kicked at the picnic basket that he’d dropped when they’d first arrived. “I’m telling you, he hates this.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Us?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Yeah, us.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Al’s a baby. He can go cry about it.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>His smile returned, exceptionally wide. “Have I mentioned how much more I enjoy you when you’re like this?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“</span>
  <em>
    <span>Angry?</span>
  </em>
  <span>”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Pissy is more accurate,” he corrected. “But yes. You’d think I wouldn’t, but it’s so damned funny.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“That does it.” Rose snatched up the picnic basket. “Let’s go eat.” She stomped through the opening in the fence and started into the cemetery, a bench in sight. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>His quick steps softly thudded against the snow. “Wait up!” He fell into step with her, still grinning. “You’re okay with this?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“No!” Rose snapped. “But I’m hungry, and that’s just making me more cross. I figure I ought to eat before I shove you into one of the graves.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Scorpius threw an arm around her, and her body traitorously relaxed against him. “Rosie, you have to admit that it’s been one hell of a first date.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I still haven’t decided whether I want to deem this a date,” she pointed out. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Right,” he snorted. “I forgot, this is a— what’d you call it? A trial run?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I did,” Rose replied approvingly. “If I can actually imagine a world where we date that doesn’t end in your murdered corpse rotting in this very cemetery while I live out my days in Azkaban, then maybe I’ll allow a first date.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You’ll </span>
  <em>
    <span>allow </span>
  </em>
  <span>it,” he chortled. “You’re ridiculous.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You knew what you were getting into.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“True,” he agreed as they reached the bench. “You </span>
  <em>
    <span>interviewed </span>
  </em>
  <span>me before saying yes in the first place.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“It was a light screening,” she defended, pulling some sandwiches out of the picnic basket as they sat beside each other on the bench. The cemetery was quiet around them— which was probably </span>
  <em>
    <span>good, </span>
  </em>
  <span>since it’d otherwise mean a </span>
  <em>
    <span>lot </span>
  </em>
  <span>of rowdy dead people to deal with. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>For a person of reason, who’d met plenty of ghosts during her Hogwarts days, Rose had a rather irrational fear of the dead coming to life. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“So practical,” Scorpius murmured, still smiling. “I don’t know if I’d call it a </span>
  <em>
    <span>light </span>
  </em>
  <span>screening, though.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“It was!”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You asked me if I’m currently on any medications you should be aware of!” Scorpius exclaimed. “Felt like an appointment with the Healers.” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I like to be prepared,” Rose frowned. “And you weren’t exactly trying to meet me halfway. If I remember correctly, your answer to that one was ‘Does the Pepper-Up potion I drank before Al took me to play laser tag count as medication?’”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“That just doesn’t sound like me.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Rose reached down and scooped some snow off the ground and swiftly flung it in his face. His screwed up face in response made her laugh. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>He wiped his face off, grinning. “Don’t start something you can’t finish, Weasley.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I gave you a bloody nose last time we had a snowball fight,” Rose snorted. “I don’t think you could take another round.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You only threw it that hard because you were cross with me,” Scorpius shot back. How could someone related to Draco Malfoy always look so sodding </span>
  <em>
    <span>happy?</span>
  </em>
  
</p><p>
  <span>“’S’not true. Your stupid face had just gotten in the way,” she mumbled. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I reckon you like my face enough now that you wouldn’t want to ruin it.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Rose scooped up some more snow. “You sure about that?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Scorpius hopped off the bench and started to back away. “Now hang on Rose, I just wanted to have a nice, </span>
  <em>
    <span>romantic</span>
  </em>
  <span>—”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“My </span>
  <em>
    <span>arse.</span>
  </em>
  <span>”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“—nonviolent picnic in the park,” he finished indignantly, still slowly taking steps backward. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“And once again,” Rose stood, armed with snow, and prepared to begin a </span>
  <span>lethal</span>
  <span> playful attack. “This is a </span>
  <em>
    <span>cemetery.</span>
  </em>
  <span>”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Scorpius continued to back away, his hands up in defense, but a giddy smile in place. It was a distracting smile, at least as far as Rose was concerned. Distracting enough for her to fail to notice where his feet were headed as she prepared to throw a snowball at that stupid grin. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>If she </span>
  <em>
    <span>had </span>
  </em>
  <span>been paying attention to his lower half— his </span>
  <em>
    <span>feet, </span>
  </em>
  <span>let’s not be sordid at Christmas— then she might have been able to stop him </span>
  <em>
    <span>before </span>
  </em>
  <span>his steps could reach the massive hole in the ground. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>In her defense, it was natural to expect all the holes to have been filled, right? Again, </span>
  <em>
    <span>let’s keep that gutter devoid of minds this cheery season, shall we? </span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <span>In any case, the holes were </span>
  <em>
    <span>not </span>
  </em>
  <span>all filled— </span>
  <em>
    <span>ugh</span>
  </em>
  <span>— and Scorpius let out a startled yelp as his foot met nothing but air. Rose froze in surprise as her date dropped out of view. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“</span>
  <em>
    <span>Oof,</span>
  </em>
  <span>” she heard him grunt as he hit the bottom. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Rose rushed forward, peering into the hole. “Scor?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He groaned, crumpled up on the ground. “What the fuck just happened?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Y- you fell into a hole,” she stammered, biting back laughter. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Did I?” he snapped. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You asked!” She grinned back before pulling out her wand. She cast a quick hovering charm and once again strained to suppress laughter as he rose from the grave with a </span>
  <em>
    <span>far </span>
  </em>
  <span>from impressed expression. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Hilarious,” he mumbled, his arms crossed. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I’m sorry,” she laughed, tucking a hand under his arm and hugging his side. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You’re suddenly </span>
  <em>
    <span>so chipper,</span>
  </em>
  <span>” he complained, though the small smile on his face suggested he was enjoying himself. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Rose laughed. “Would you rather I go back to whining about the fact that our first date is in a cemetery?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Scorpius raised an eyebrow, uncrossing his arms and tugging her closer. “Are you saying there will be </span>
  <em>
    <span>more </span>
  </em>
  <span>dates then?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>She smiled and stood on her toes and kissed him swiftly. “We’ll see. We still have a follow-up interview, of course.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Of </span>
  <em>
    <span>course,</span>
  </em>
  <span>” he rolled his eyes. “You’re mental, Rose, I hope you know that.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“And yet here you are,” she beamed up at him. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Yeah,” he smirked back. “I might just stick around for that follow-up interview.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Rose narrowed her eyes at him. “It’s a </span>
  <em>
    <span>real </span>
  </em>
  <span>interview. I hope you know that.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Absolutely.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Not a euphemism.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I would never assume otherwise.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I’m serious.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I’m sure you are.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Rose eyed him suspiciously for a moment longer before letting out an aggravated sigh. “Fuck it, let’s go have sex.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>‘Tis the season, you know?</span>
</p>
  </div></div>
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